Oration XLI. On Pentecost.

 I.  Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it spiritually.  For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival but to

 II.  Wherefore we must keep the feast spiritually.  And this is the beginning of our discourse for we must speak, even if our speech do seem a little

 III.  As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will be content with a few out of the many.  For instance, seven precious spir

 IV.  And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation.  I perceive als

 V.  We are keeping the feast of Pentecost and of the Coming of the Spirit, and the appointed time of the Promise, and the fulfilment of our hope.  And

 VI.  They who reduce the Holy Spirit to the rank of a creature are blasphemers and wicked servants, and worst of the wicked.  For it is the part of wi

 VII.  If, my friends, you will not acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be uncreated, nor yet eternal clearly such a state of mind is due to the contrary s

 VIII.  Confess, my friends, the Trinity to be of One Godhead or if you will, of One Nature and we will pray the Spirit to give you this word God.  H

 IX.  The Holy Ghost, then, always existed, and exists, and always will exist.  He neither had a beginning, nor will He have an end but He was everlas

 X.  Are you labouring to bring forth objections?  Well, so am I to get on with my discourse.  Honour the Day of the Spirit restrain your tongue if yo

 XI.  He wrought first in the heavenly and angelic powers, and such as are first after God and around God.  For from no other source flows their perfec

 XII.  And therefore He came after Christ, that a Comforter should not be lacking unto us but Another Comforter, that you might acknowledge His co-equ

 XIII.  This was proclaimed by the Prophets in such passages as the following:—The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and, There shall rest upon Him Seven

 XIV.  This Spirit shares with the Son in working both the Creation and the Resurrection, as you may be shewn by this Scripture By the Word of the Lor

 XV.  They spoke with strange tongues, and not those of their native land and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learnt it. 

 XVI.  But as the old Confusion of tongues was laudable, when men who were of one language in wickedness and impiety, even as some now venture to be, w

 XVII.  Next, since it was to inhabitants of Jerusalem, most devout Jews, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, Egyptians, and Libyans, Cretans too, and Arab

 XVIII.  These questions have been examined before by the studious, and perhaps not without occasion and whatever else any one may contribute at the p

XII.  And therefore He came after Christ, that a Comforter should not be lacking unto us; but Another Comforter, that you might acknowledge His co-equality.  For this word Another marks an Alter Ego, a name of equal Lordship, not of inequality.  For Another is not said, I know, of different kinds, but of things consubstantial.  And He came in the form of Tongues because of His close relation to the Word.  And they were of Fire, perhaps because of His purifying Power (for our Scripture knows of a purifying fire, as any one who wishes can find out), or else because of His Substance.  For our God is a consuming Fire, and a Fire44    Heb. xii. 20. burning up the ungodly;45    Deut. iv. 24. though you may again pick a quarrel over these words, being brought into difficulty by the Consubstantiality.  And the tongues were cloven, because of the diversity of Gifts; and they sat to signify His Royalty and Rest among the Saints, and because the Cherubim are the Throne of God.  And it took place in an Upper Chamber (I hope I am not seeming to any one over tedious), because those who should receive it were to ascend and be raised above the earth; for also certain upper chambers46    Ps. civ. 3. are covered with Divine Waters,47    Ps. cxlviii. 4. by which the praise of God are sung.  And Jesus Himself in an Upper Chamber gave the Communion of the Sacrament to those who were being initiated into the higher Mysteries, that thereby might be shewn on the one hand that God must come down to us, as I know He did of old to Moses; and on the other that we must go up to Him, and that so there should come to pass a Communion of God with men, by a coalescing of the dignity.  For as long as either remains on its own footing, the One in His Glory48    ἐπὶ περιοπῆς; Billius renders “In specula sua,” “On His watch tower,” and the meaning is admissible, but the context seems rather to point to the passive sense of Majesty or Glory.  The word is not in the Lexicon, and Suicer does not notice it; but the corresponding adjective has only the passive sense.  Specula, however, is used in the sense of Eminence, but apparently only geographically. the other in his lowliness, so long the Goodness of God cannot mingle with us, and His lovingkindness is incommunicable, and there is a great gulf between, which cannot be crossed; and which separates not only the Rich Man from Lazarus and Abraham’s Bosom which he longs for, but also the created and changing natures from that which is eternal and immutable.

ΙΒʹ. Διὰ τοῦτο, μετὰ Χριστὸν μὲν, ἵνα Παράκλητος ἡμῖν μὴ λείπῃ: Ἄλλος δὲ, ἵνα σὺ τὴν ὁμοτιμίαν ἐνθυμηθῇς. Τὸ γὰρ, ἄλλος, ἄλλος οἷος ἐγὼ, καθίσταται. Τοῦτο δὲ συνδεσποτείας, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀτιμίας ὄνομα. Τὸ γὰρ, ἄλλος, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῶν ὁμοουσίων οἶδα λεγόμενον. Ἐν γλώσσαις δὲ, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Λόγον οἰκείωσιν. Πυρίναις δὲ, ζητῶ πότερον διὰ τὴν κάθαρσιν (οἶδε γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν καὶ πῦρ καθαρτήριον, ὡς πανταχόθεν βουλομένοις ὑπάρχει μαθεῖν): ἢ διὰ τὴν οὐσίαν. Πῦρ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ πῦρ καταναλίσκον τὴν μοχθηρίαν, κἂν πάλιν ἀγανακτῇς τῷ ὁμοουσίῳ στενοχωρούμενος. Μεριζομέναις δὲ, διὰ τὸ τῶν χαρισμάτων διάφορον: καθεζομέναις δὲ, διὰ τὸ βασιλικὸν, καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀνάπαυσιν: ἐπεὶ καὶ Θεοῦ θρόνος τὰ χερουβίμ. Ἐν ὑπερῴῳ δὲ (εἰ μή τῳ περιεργότερος εἶναι δοκῶ τοῦ δέοντος), διὰ τὴν ἀνάβασιν τῶν δεξομένων, καὶ τὴν χαμόθεν ἔπαρσιν: ἐπεὶ καὶ ὕδασι θείοις ὑπερῷά τινα στεγάζεται, δι' ὧν ὑμνεῖται Θεός. Καὶ Ἰησοῦς αὐτὸς ἐν ὑπερῴῳ τοῦ μυστηρίου κοινωνεῖ τοῖς τὰ ὑψηλότερα τελουμένοις, ἵνα ἐκεῖνο παραδειχθῇ, ὅτι τὸ μέν τι καταβῆναι δεῖ Θεὸν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὃ καὶ πρότερον ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως οἶδα γενόμενον, τὸ δὲ ἡμᾶς ἀναβῆναι, καὶ οὕτω γενέσθαι κοινωνίαν Θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, τῆς ἀξίας συγκιρναμένης Ἕως δ' ἂν ἑκάτερον ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας μένῃ, τὸ μὲν περιωπῆς, τὸ δὲ ταπεινώσεως, ἄμικτος ἡ ἀγαθότης, καὶ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον ἀκοινώνητον: καὶ χάσμα ἐν μέσῳ μέγα καὶ ἀδιάβατον, οὐ τὸν πλούσιον τοῦ Λαζάρου μόνον, καὶ τῶν ὀρεκτῶν Ἀβραὰμ κόλπων διεῖργον, τὴν δὲ γενητὴν φύσιν καὶ ῥέουσαν, τῆς ἀγενήτου καὶ ἑστηκυίας.